AAA<\/p>\n
Scaling a 120-metre-high pillar on the Bolte Bridge on a freezing winter\u2019s night is no mean feat \u2013 nor one to be recommended \u2013 but it is typical of the artist allegedly behind Pam the Bird.<\/p>\n
Jack Gibson-Burrell\u2019s work regularly pops up in unexpected, difficult-to-reach places, including signs above freeways, the Flinders Street Station clock, the side of the Novotel Hotel in South Wharf, and on one of Melbourne\u2019s much-loved \u201ccheese sticks\u201d at the beginning of Flemington Road.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dc498a3958384e4c2a6a912600d5d0146cd93a79.jpeg\")
The alleged Pam the Bird graffiti artist descends from the Bolte Bridge pylon on Tuesday morning.Joe Armao<\/p>\n
Pam the Bird is a simple line drawing that has become the trademark image of the graffiti artist from Melbourne\u2019s west. According to @goodbirdart, an Instagram site reportedly showing behind-the-scenes images and information about the bird, the image depicts a shoebill, named after a teacher and inspired by a drawing done in grade 3.<\/p>\n
Opinion about the work is polarised. While many marvel of the audacity and creativity of the young man, others are outraged by the damage done to public and private property.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old\u2019s alleged latest move is his most audacious yet, with police stopping traffic below the Bolte Bridge, resulting in a nine-hour stand-off. Police believe the man gained access at the base of the pillar, where a platform leading to a door and staircase can be seen, about 3am on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In a video shared to an Instagram account on Tuesday morning, the man \u2013 later identified as Gibson-Burrell \u2013 said: \u201cI\u2019ll be down at 12pm peacefully. Just waiting for the tide to get a little bit lower.\u201d He came down about 11am without injury and was taken into police custody.<\/p>\n
In earlier videos, shared on social media, the man appeared to be atop the bridge\u2019s eastern concrete stack, looking down on several emergency vehicles and the road. \u201cI\u2019m not coming down until they lower the taxes,\u201d he says, his voice raised and shaking. \u201cI\u2019m f—ing sick of paying that shit.\u201d Asked which taxes, he replied: \u201cAll of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also asked for a peanut butter and jam sandwich, a glass of milk and a blanket, via Instagram, saying it was \u201ckinda cold\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b8db0a003f1bb761af06561a780da3a3ce9c64a9.jpeg\")
The 20-metre-high Pam the Bird graffitied on the eastern pylon of the Bolte Bridge overnight.Joe\u00a0ArmaoSocial anarchy or a sense of adventure?<\/p>\n
Art is in the eye of the beholder, says Shaun Hossack, founder of public art agency Juddy Roller. \u201cObviously, the artwork is vandalism and unsanctioned, and so many people would see it as social anarchy, and other people would say it brings a bit of joy, a smile, a sense of adventure to the city,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that Pam the Bird is quite a complicated character, a character he is. He\u2019s also like Melbourne\u2019s very own Joker. Street art and graffiti are two very different things, and they have very different outcomes and intentions.<\/p>\n
\u201cStreet art is very much a commercial entity for artists to express themselves and enjoy potentially a fruitful career, whereas graffiti is and always has been a way for people with less agency to communicate their own ideas and values to a very large audience without the need to ask for permission, or without the funding to secure billboards or ads in the newspaper as other commercial entities may do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the bird, Hossack thinks it\u2019s creative but in a way that is not considered by many historians or critics. Context is important, he argues, and the fact Gibson-Burrell allegedly chooses these very interesting locations in itself is artistic. \u201cIt\u2019s almost an installation. He works with the architecture and the location; the audience is almost a participant within his art,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the Flinders Street Station one, it\u2019s very naive, but it\u2019s also very funny and very clever to turn such an iconic building and particularly the clock into one of his characters. In a way, it\u2019s almost conceptual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lord Mayor Nick Reece has characterised Gibson-Burrell\u2019s alleged work as vandalism. \u201cIf you spray, you pay,\u201d he has said in reference to Pam the Bird and any other similarly high-profile graffiti artists. \u201cThere is no artistic merit to these works \u2014 it\u2019s just plain vandalism.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Reece said: \u201cThis is an incredibly stupid and dangerous stunt that has disrupted thousands of commuters and defaced a city icon. The cringeworthy acts of this attention seeker have real life consequences for people in our city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no artistic merit to graffiti like this \u2013 it\u2019s just senseless vandalism … Arrests of alleged offenders is a step forward in cleaning up tagging in Melbourne. We hope this means another vandal is off our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melbourne City Council promotes sanctioned street art projects but spends millions each year getting rid of unwelcome tags and graffiti.<\/p>\n
Soon after former Age reporter Tom Cowie wrote about the Pam the Bird phenomenon<\/a> in 2024, The Age building \u2013 part of Nine Entertainment \u2013 was tagged with the image. The account told Cowie it had \u201chundreds of run-ins with the police\u201d. \u201cThank f— they can\u2019t fly. Makes it really easy to escape,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Says Hossack: \u201cIt\u2019s up to the public to interpret whether it\u2019s good or bad. Either way, he\u2019s Melbourne famous, and with what he\u2019s doing he deserves to be world-famous in his own right.\u201d<\/p>\n He draws a correlation between Tuesday morning\u2019s activity here with Angela Nikolau, 33, and Ivan Kuznetsov, 32, who climbed the Empire State Building<\/a> in New York last week. It was widely reported around the globe, and Hossack argues there was far less public discourse around safety. It was celebrated there, he says. \u201cI don\u2019t ever think there\u2019s been a more loved graffiti artist in Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n Gibson-Burrell is on bail after pleading not guilty to more than 200 charges that he caused $700,000 in damage by vandalising property across Melbourne.<\/p>\n Gibson-Burrell\u2019s bail conditions<\/a> had included living with his grandmother in Geelong, complying with a nightly curfew and not possessing abseiling or graffiti-related items.<\/p>\n![\"Pam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8c345959d30442c024a41155b4745735bd91fb63.jpeg\")
Pam the Bird graffiti being cleaned off\u00a0Novotel,\u00a0South\u00a0Wharf, in February last year.Jason South<\/p>\n